Chapter 7

The thirtieth day arrived. The day my divorce from Ethan was supposed to be finalized. A tiny, fragile sliver of hope flickered in the darkness of my existence.

That morning, Leo burst into the basement, his face alight with excitement.

"We're going on the yacht!" he announced. "Daddy's taking us out on the ocean to celebrate!"

Celebrate what? I wondered numbly.

Ethan came down a few minutes later. He had two of his guards with him.

"You're coming with us," he said, his voice flat.

They dressed me in clean clothes and carried me up from the basement, my broken, acid-burned leg dangling uselessly. My throat had healed enough that I could speak, my voice a hoarse, raspy whisper. But my body was a wreck.

They put me on the yacht, a massive, opulent vessel that screamed of Ethan's wealth. I was placed in a chair on the deck, a guard on either side of me. I was a prisoner on a pleasure cruise.

I sat there, watching the California coastline recede, feeling the sun on my face for the first time in weeks. I tried to find a moment, an opportunity to signal for help. But my guards were vigilant, their eyes never leaving me.

We sailed further and further out, until the land was just a faint smudge on the horizon. The sea was calm, the sky a brilliant, cloudless blue.

Leo was having the time of his life, running around the deck, his laughter echoing in the still air. He would occasionally glance at me, his eyes full of a smug, childish contempt.

A knot of unease tightened in my stomach. Why had Ethan brought me here? What was he planning?

Then, the sky began to change. The brilliant blue was swallowed by an angry, bruised grey. The wind picked up, whipping the calm sea into a frenzy of white-capped waves.

A storm. It had come out of nowhere, swift and violent.

An alarm blared across the yacht. The crew scrambled, shouting orders. The guests, a small group of Ethan's friends, panicked, their faces pale with fear.

Ethan immediately went to Geneva and Leo, his arms wrapping around them protectively. "Get the life rafts!" he yelled to the crew.

In the chaos, my guards abandoned me. They ran to help with the life rafts, their own survival their only concern.

I was alone, a useless, broken thing in the middle of a storm-tossed deck.

A massive wave crashed over the side, sending a wall of water surging across the deck. It slammed into my chair, knocking me to the ground. I couldn't get up. My body was too weak, my leg a dead weight.

"Help!" I cried, my voice swallowed by the roar of the wind and the sea. "Please, somebody help me!"

The panicking guests ran past me, over me, their feet trampling my body in their desperate scramble for the life rafts. The pain was excruciating. My BONES CRACKED, my wounds tore open, fresh blood mixing with the salty spray.

The yacht tilted violently, the deck now a steep, slippery slope. I was sliding, gravity pulling me towards the raging black water.

I managed to grab onto the railing, my fingers numb and weak, the only thing keeping me from being swept away.

I knew I couldn't hold on for long. This was it. This was how I was going to die.

Then, a hand grabbed my arm. Ethan.

He had come back for me.

He was pulling me up, his face a mask of desperation. "Hold on, Elaine! I've got you!"

But over his shoulder, I could see the last life raft being lowered into the water. Geneva and Leo were in it, their faces turned towards us, their voices calling his name.

"Ethan, hurry!" Geneva screamed. "Leave her! It's too late!"

He hesitated, his eyes torn between me and them.

In that moment, everything became clear. All the pain, all the betrayal, all the cruelty. It all coalesced into a single, burning point of clarity.

I was not going to be his possession anymore. I was not going to be his tool.

I was going to be free.

I looked him in the eye, and with a strength I didn't know I possessed, I pried his fingers from my arm, one by one.

He stared at me, his eyes wide with disbelief.

A small, sad smile touched my lips. "It's over, Ethan," I whispered, my voice carried away by the wind. "We're over."

And then, I let go.

The fall was surprisingly peaceful. The world spun, a kaleidoscope of grey sky and black water.

The last thing I saw was Ethan's horrified face as Geneva and Leo pulled him onto the life raft, saving him from the sinking wreck of our life together.

Then the cold, dark water swallowed me whole. I closed my eyes, and a single tear escaped, mingling with the vast, unforgiving ocean.

I thought it was the end. But it wasn't.

A piece of floating debris, a large wooden crate, bobbed to the surface near me. I clung to it, my body numb, my mind a blank slate. Hours later, a small fishing boat, captained by a kind-faced old man, found me.

He took me to a small coastal town, no questions asked. The first thing I did was buy a cheap wheelchair. The second was to call my lawyer.

"Is it done?" I asked, my voice trembling.

"Yes, Ms. Landry," he replied. "The divorce was finalized this morning. You are a free woman."

I sent a copy of the final divorce decree to Ethan's office via courier.

Then, I went to the airport. I didn't have a bag, just the clothes on my back and the fire of a new life burning in my heart.

As the plane took off, leaving the country I had once called home behind, I finally, truly, breathed a sigh of relief.

It was over. I was free.